Newfoundland and Labrador is receiving equalization money for the first time since 2008.
Equalization is a complicated formula made to ensure that all provinces are able to supply the same basic level of services, right across the country.
For years, equalization was clawed back from Newfoundland and Labrador due to oil revenue achieved through the Atlantic Accord.
The so-called “have-not” provinces receive equalization funds from Ottawa, while the “haves” do not. Newfoundland and Labrador lived up to former Premier Brian Peckford’s prediction that “Some day the sun will shine and ‘have not’ will be no more” in 2008, when it came off equalization.
Finance Minister Siobhan Coady says the province received its letter from the federal government this week, indicating that next year the province will receive some $1.1 billion from Ottawa, a portion of which comes from equalization.
Graph via Government of Canada
The payment comes as the result of recent changes made to the equalization formula.
Newfoundland and Labrador will receive $218 million under equalization, but Coady cautions, the province may not receive that money into the future.
